Feb. 22, 2013. An employee wears a panda suit while talking to a woman at a panda-themed hotel at the foot of Emei Mountain in Emeishan, southwest China’s Sichuan province. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

See more of the week’s best images at TIME LightBox.

Photograph by Liu Dawei—Xinhua/Landov

Jan. 30, 2013. Feeders hold koalas as they pose for group photos at Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou, capital of south China’s Guangdong Province. 

See more of the week’s best images at TIME LightBox

Jan. 6, 2013. Lions in their enclosure react as tourists throw snowballs at them in the Hangzhou Zoo. (Photo: ChinaFotoPress—ZUMAPRESS.com)

See more of the week’s best images at TIME LightBox.

Pictured: A man pumping water from the river, Ningxia province. (Photo: Zhang Kechun)

Chengdu-based photographer Zhang Kechun spent two years photographing from the banks of China’s Yellow River. Though the lunar tones and low horizons feel foreboding, Zhang insists the photos carry a message of hope. See the project on LightBox.

Oct. 4, 2012. A tiger cub rests at a nursery room at the Shanghai Zoo in Shanghai. (photo:Eugene Hoshiko–AP)

From the U.S. presidential debate in Denver and a ferry disaster in Hong Kong to Europe’s unbelievable Ryder Cup comeback in Illinois and a tiger cub at the Shanghai Zoo, TIME presents the best pictures of the week. 

See more photos here.

Wang Mingjuan trying out for the Chinese women’s Olympic weightlifting team at the national sports training center in Beijing. At 48kg (105 lbs), Mingjuan qualified for the team and is competing the London Olympics. 

China has developed some of the toughest women weightlifters in the world. TIME contract photographer James Nachtwey documented China’s team as they prepared for the 2012 Olympic games in London.

See more photos here.

July 20, 2012. Orlando Duque of Colombia dives from a rock monolith during the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series at Islet Vila Franca do Campo, Azores, Portugal.  

From drought-cracked earth in Yemen and massive floods in China to violent protests in California and Olympic preparation in London, TIME’s photo department presents the best images of the week.

See more photos here.

Fidel Castro poses with the Cuban women’s basketball team in Havana.

Neil Leifer spent a year traversing the globe to photograph athletes for TIME’s 1984 Olympics special issue. From the plains of Kenya to Russia’s Red Square to The Great Wall of China, Leifer used grand backdrops to photograph the athletic stars of the day.

See more photos here.

July 16, 2012. A gymnast from the Chinese national gymnastics team practices during a training session at General Administration of Sport of China, in Beijing.

From America’s worst drought in 50 years and fierce fighting in Syria to the start of Ramadan, TIME’s photo department presents the best images of the week.

See more photos here.

Nati Harnik–AP

July 6, 2012. A sun bear reacts to triple-digit temperatures at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Neb.

From Libya’s landmark election and America’s heat wave to Spain’s running of the bulls and captured Syrian Army soldiers, TIME’s photo department presents the best images of the week.

See more photos here.